Seasonal greetings

Two bits of news to tuck under your Christmas tree or Hanukkah bush.

One, following the example of JK Rowling, sometime after Christmas I’e2’80’99m going to post the first chapter of THE ART OF DETECTION on the web site. If you get the newsletter, you’e2’80’99ll know when.

And second, as of the first of the year, I’e2’80’99m going to try a monthly ‘e2’80’9cAsk LRK’e2’80’9d feature on this blog. From time to time, people send in comments that are actually unrelated to what’e2’80’99s going on in the blog at the time, and although I often make note of them with the idea of talking about them some time, they generally get lost in the shuffle.

In this age of electronic communication, I realize how frustrating it can be when someone is off the grid, as it were, and since I can only be reached by snail mail, it makes a job of it. So this way, once a month, I’e2’80’99ll try to respond to electronic queries, and we’e2’80’99ll see how that goes. To make it easy, let’e2’80’99s just say the first of the month will be Ask Laurie Day, and I’e2’80’99ll either deal with everything over the next few days, or if there are a lot of questions, I’e2’80’99ll pick and choose what I think everyone will be interested in.

So note your questions, and send them the first of the new year.

As for the solstice holidays, I bring to your attention the words of Thomas Jefferson, writing in 1798 at the passage of the Sedition Act):

‘e2’80’9cA little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles.’e2’80’9d

Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, and an enlightened Solstice to us all.

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11 Comments

  1. myninki on December 23, 2005 at 2:50 pm

    Feliz Navidad y un Prospero A’c3’b1o Nuevo para usted y su familia. Espero que muchos y muchos libros salgan de sus manos.

  2. Liz on December 24, 2005 at 12:56 am

    One, following the example of JK Rowling, sometime after Christmas I’e2’80’99m going to post the first chapter of THE ART OF DETECTION on the web site. If you get the newsletter, you’e2’80’99ll know when.

    Hurray!

    …On a semi-related note, here is a story which you may find amusing or lame as you please: I live in Australia, where your books are difficult to find and generally released several months behind the US. I was madkeen to read Locked Rooms, and spent enough time poking around various book sites to find the blurb and promotional material long before anyone else.

    (Disclaimer: I’m a library student. I spend a lot of time poking around book sites for research, not just when I’m stalking unreleased novels. I had an idea of where the info might be, and I turned out to be right.)

    Anyway, a few months before the book was released, I found an excerpt on Amazon.com. Much excitement. Poking around again some weeks later, I found a longer excerpt on Bookreporter.com. More excitement.

    I let it go after that, figuring that the book would be out in a month, and that would be the end of the excerpts. But no! I wandered back to Bookreporter about a week before the release, and found — the excerpt had grown! Then again. And again.

    And then … the book was released in the US, and the excerpt stopped expanding. Misery. Angst. Frustration. I was left to the mercies of the international postal system, and for an uncomfortable couple of days it looked like Locked Rooms would arrive on my doorstep at the same time as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Which would, of course, have been bad.

    Luck and an efficient postal service prevailed, although I still suspect the local Customs officers spent an inordinate time reading before they sent my package on. The moral of the story is, releasing excerpts can be dangerous to one’s concentration.

    Have a wonderful holiday season.

  3. Vicki Larson on December 24, 2005 at 2:19 pm

    Merry Christmas! I have had such a wonderful time reading your books. You are one of my three or four favorite living authors. Your lively blog makes me realize that you are truly LIVING. Great. May God bless you and give you an ever greater imagination as you enliven our more pedestrian lives. I am 75 years old and just starting the art of blogging. My daughter is getting me set up.

  4. Mary Pat Sullivan on December 24, 2005 at 4:03 pm

    Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. Thank you for loving to write AND for writing. Your bliss is my gift. It is so much fun and stimulating to read your books.
    I just feel so darn intelligent reading, looking up many of your words in the dictionary, and checking out some maps of the various locals.

  5. Pete Lashua on December 24, 2005 at 6:49 pm

    Stop blogging right now!

  6. kate mckinnon on December 28, 2005 at 6:46 pm

    Hello, Laurie. Thank you so much for all of your excellent work. Your books have given me uncountable hours of pleasure, and many new thoughts. I’ve read them all to tatters.

    I do enjoy your web site, and appreciate the time that it takes to maintain. Blogging is time-consuming, but a published diary from someone bristling with life and original thought can be a great gift to others.

    I hope one day for a true sequel to Folly. Rae Newborn is one of my favorite characters in your library. I loved the way that as we gained sympathy for her illness, we also gained perception that perhaps things weren’t exactly as we thought… it was a brilliant pace and reveal, and took me on a real journey of self-searching.

    One thing I couldn’t find on your web site was an indication of any upcoming local readings. Anything on the horizon? I’m just down the coast a few miles.

  7. Sheyn Aella on December 28, 2005 at 10:43 pm

    Happy 2006, Laurie King. I read the first chapter in Art of Detection and will buy. I think your ideas for new year re questions and answers are good.

    I’d love to see you do a book with a Judaism focus. Or World War II and the ethical issues. You have major talents that range so widely.
    A thought.
    Shalom for all of us here and everywhere, claire

  8. Sheyn Aella on December 28, 2005 at 10:45 pm

    Laurie,
    I was glad to read your first chapter of Art of Detection. And glad you’re going to respond to questions first of each month.
    Have you ever thought of writing a book based in WW II time space/focus on ethics. Your talent is wide ranging. I watch to see you move and experiment.
    Shalom, Sheyn Aella

  9. aeschine on December 29, 2005 at 2:26 am

    To Life! and Merry Christmas as well and any other politically correct holiday salutation that is accepted and ordained appropriate!

    My, you have been so busy this year and it sounds as though ’06 will be another busy one for you.

    I must tell you that it is so refreshing to see a blog for one of my favorite authors. I love mysteries and have been a Holmes fan since, well, lets just say since my youth (I goeth not there).
    😉
    When I discovered your Mary Russell series I was hooked from the start. Thank you for sharing such delightful characters and re-inventing a classic hero of mine.

    I look forward to your newsletter and web site postings for the coming year and wish you the best for this New Year and for all those yet to come!

  10. Kaylene on December 29, 2005 at 5:45 am

    A slightly belated Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year to you! Having finished re-reading both Locked Rooms and The Beekeeper’s Apprentice within the past two days (and listening to a few chapters of Justice Hall on booktape), I’m feeling somewhat inspired to do something pertaining to detecting… Or at least draw a picture of Russell and/or Holmes… (Thus, if you suddenly find a rather large pile of drawings in your mailbox, you’ll know why.)

  11. Anonymous on December 29, 2005 at 4:40 pm

    I sent the Jefferson quote to some friends, and one replied “Amen, I said, Amen, I said, amen, amen, amen.”

    I think he liked it. Thanks for the inspiration — if TJ could be optimistic, I can.

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